Justice Beyond the Species Barrier

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Lifestyle

We should be always looking for ways to challenge speciesism whenever we can. Challenging social norms that normalize violence against animals through our lifestyle and behavior is probably one of the most effective ways to speak up for nonhuman animals. Below are some of the things we can do in our daily lives to challenge nonhuman exploitation.

Veganism

If we believe that it is morally wrong to harm nonhuman animals, it logically follows that we need to stop enslaving and killing them for food, clothing, entertainment, science, and other purposes. Veganism is the first but not the only step in challenging speciesism.

Language is a powerful tool. The words we choose do more than name or describe things; they assign status and value. Be careful, then, how you choose words that refer to non-human animals, for you may be using expressions that maintain prejudices against them.

To commit to anti-speciesism is to value everyone’s lives equally. It is to respond the same way to nonhuman abuse as you would to human abuse.

If humans were chopped up in little pieces on the dining table, would you eat there anyway? If you saw someone draping themselves in a humans’ skin, would you walk by without saying a word? If your answer is no, then we urge you to expand your circle of concern to nonhumans.

We have a responsibility to help every nonhuman person who is suffering from human supremacy–not just those who are physically enslaved by humans. Our waste (especially plastic) and our invasion of their habitats are two of the biggest ways we intrude on the lives of free-living animals.